If you don't want to restart/re-level a new toon, and you
really want to do the quest line, you could always use the petition forum to request that the staff return the item to you. It will likely take a long time (quite possibly months) ... but it is an option.
As Tnair said though, you can go your entire EQ life without doing that quest: it's not like any groups are going to reject you or anything
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